In the dead of a Prairie winter, when cars won’t start and exposed skin freezes in 30 seconds, people pray for a searing hot summer. But across Western Canada this season, many may be recalling the old adage, “be careful what you wish for” as forest fires, drought and pestilence invite biblical comparisons.

More worrisome, though, than the sight of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia wilting under 30 degree [Celsius; 86°F] temperatures in June and July — and rationing scarce water supplies in some areas — is that this might just be the start of an even bigger problem.

Many meteorologists are chalking up today’s weird and wacky weather in the West to the fact that this is an El Nino year, referring to the cyclical Pacific Ocean phenomenon that disrupts global weather patterns.

The problem with that, according to Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips: “It’s not even arrived in Canada yet.”

“We don’t see the effects of El Nino until late fall, winter and early spring,” he says.

What that likely means is at least three more consecutive seasons of warmer, drier weather when farmers are already, quite literally, tapped out in the moisture department.

As for what that could mean for drought conditions next summer and beyond, Phillips says it’s “not looking good.”

So the drought will likely continue through next year at least. Again, not good. “Game over” for ranchers:

Canada’s Prairies have just experienced their driest winter and spring in 68 years of record keeping. “So they were behind the eight-ball before the summer season ever came,” says Phillips.

That, coupled with a record low snow pack in North America, and few of the traditional June rains needed to grow crops, has had a cumulative effect that’s hit some producers harder than others.

Says Phillips: “For ranchers it’s pretty much game over.”

The tinder dry land has kept pastures for grazing cattle from turning green and producing feed, forcing cattle ranchers to sell down their herds or ship the animals around looking for alternative feed sources.

The municipality voted unanimously this week to declare a local state of agricultural disaster as soil moisture and crop conditions continue to decline to the worst levels in half a century.

And here’s a NOAA scientist saying that there is a trend, and it will continue “as long as greenhouse gas levels continue to rise year after year”:

NOAA climate scientist Jessica Blunden says, in addition to the dwindling snow pack, “glaciers are melting, sea ice is melting, sea levels reached record highs last year, the ocean heat was record high last year, sea surface temperatures were record highs last year, so you put it all together and there’s a definite trend.”

It’s a trend Blunden expects to continue into 2015 and beyond as long as, she says, greenhouse gas levels continue to rise year after year.

“We have 15 years to avert a full-blown water crisis; by 2030, demand for water will outstrip supply by 40 percent”

You are a clear and present danger to my grandchildren’s future. Fear me.

In what may prove to be a turning point for political action on climate change, a breathtaking new study casts extreme doubt about the near-term stability of global sea levels.

The study—written by James Hansen, NASA’s former lead climate scientist, and 16 co-authors, many of whom are considered among the top in their fields—concludes that glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica will melt 10 times faster than previous consensus estimates, resulting in sea level rise of at least 10 feet in as little as 50 years. The study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, brings new importance to a feedback loop in the ocean near Antarctica that results in cooler freshwater from melting glaciers forcing warmer, saltier water underneath the ice sheets, speeding up the melting rate. Hansen, who is known for being alarmist and also right, acknowledges that his study implies change far beyond previous consensus estimates. In a conference call with reporters, he said he hoped the new findings would be “substantially more persuasive than anything previously published.” I certainly find them to be.

To come to their findings, the authors used a mixture of paleoclimate records, computer models, and observations of current rates of sea level rise, but “the real world is moving somewhat faster than the model,” Hansen says.

Hansen’s study does not attempt to predict the precise timing of the feedback loop, only that it is “likely” to occur this century. The implications are mindboggling: In the study’s likely scenario, New York City—and every other coastal city on the planet—may only have a few more decades of habitability left. That dire prediction, in Hansen’s view, requires “emergency cooperation among nations.”

We conclude that continued high emissions will make multi-meter sea level rise practically unavoidable and likely to occur this century. Social disruption and economic consequences of such large sea level rise could be devastating. It is not difficult to imagine that conflicts arising from forced migrations and economic collapse might make the planet ungovernable, threatening the fabric of civilization.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — When a 32-foot replica killer whale buzzed through the water to scare off hundreds of sea lions piled on Oregon docks, onlookers cheered. And then the dummy orca went belly-up.

The motorized fiberglass orca was brought to the seaside town of Astoria on Thursday as a sort of maritime Clint Eastwood — called upon to deal with ne’er-do-wells, in this case sea lions crowding onto docks and making it difficult for locals to access their boats.

But the orca’s first day on the job was a flop.

About 1,000 people cheered as the dummy whale — with its human operator inside — took to the water Thursday night. Jim Knight, executive director of the Port of Astoria, said sea lions that were crowded onto the docks became “deathly silent.”

But as a cargo ship passed by, the phony orca started to list from the vessel’s wake. And then the bogus orca capsized.

“Our crew from the port had to go rescue the operator so he didn’t drown,” Knight said.

PAY ATTENTION! Your “senior”counterpart, whom I have voted for throughout his tenure as I have voted and actively campaigned throughout yours, is on his way to the unemployment line. Fucking weasel. No damned different than Walden.

Fuck us once, shame on you, fuck us twice… President Obama is scheduled to visit Nike’s Oregon headquarters on Friday to promote the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Yes, Nike – an Oregon company that grew to billions by outsourcing jobs to overseas sweatshops, an Oregon company that sets up P.O.-box subsidiaries in tax havens to avoid paying U.S. taxes, an Oregon company that uses threats to extort tax breaks from its “home” state.

Nike isn’t the solution to the problem of stagnant wages in America. Nike is the problem.

It’s true that over the past two years Nike has added 2,000 good-paying professional jobs at its Oregon headquarters, fulfilling the requirements of a controversial tax break it wrangled from the state legislature. That’s good for Nike’s new design, research and marketing employees.

But Nike’s U.S. workers make only a tiny percent of Nike’s products.

In fact, Americans made only 1 percent of the products that generated Nike’s $27.8 billion revenue last year. And Nike is moving ever more of its production abroad. Last year, a third of Nike’s remaining 13,922 American production workers were laid off.

Most of Nike’s products are made by 990,000 workers in low-wage countries whose abysmal working conditions have made Nike a symbol of global sweatshop labor.

YO! Phil, thanks for the little money you’ve spent here. Now get the fuck out.

Natural SocietyPortland, Oregon has joined at least seven other cities in banning the usage of neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides that many scientists think is behind colony collapse disorder and the premature death and dysfunction of many bees and other pollinating insects. The ban applies to all city lands and will be enforced despite the opposition of some nearby farmers who claim neonicotinoids are critical for producing their food crops.

Neonicotinoids are highly neurotoxic, sharing a common mode of action that affects the central nervous system of insects, resulting in their paralysis and death. Pollinating insects are essential for the growth of numerous crops, including apples, plums, broccoli, peppers, cabbage, Brazil nuts, and cashews.

In 2008, neonicotinoids were scrutinized for their environmental impact in Germany, where they were linked with several adverse ecological effects. In 2013, the EU and some other European countries banned use of certain members of the neonicotinoid family.

Meanwhile, the USDA took a broad look into the decline of bee colonies in the country. Their report highlighted the fact that in 1990, there were 3 million bee colonies. By 2013, that number had dropped to 2.5 million, demonstrating that the collapse is a long-term issue. Though their report was dire for insects and people, it did not offer any immediate solutions. Soon after it was released, the EPA approved a fourth generation neonicotinoid, known as sulfoxaflor, an action that left many followers of the situation dumbfounded.

In 2014, tens of millions of bees were found dead in Ontario Canada, just days after a planting of genetically modified corn. Ontario’s The Post reported that the crops were sprayed with neonicotinoids produced by Bayer CropScience. The air seeding of neonicotinoid-treated GM corn was seen as and accelerating factor in the bee losses. It is likely that in most parts of North America the reason neonicotinoids continue to be permitted is heavy influence from the chemical industry.

Because the federal government has refused to do anything about the havoc being caused by neonicotinoids, dealing with it has become the province of the states and municipalities. In 2013, Eugene Oregon was the first city to ban its use. Since then, efforts have centered around the Pacific Northwest, with Seattle and Spokane in Washington joining in.

One recent example can be seen with Amanda Fritz, Commissioner of Portland, who was successful in gaining approval of the measure to ban neonicotinoids on city lands such as gardens and municipal parks by presenting it as a public health issue requiring emergency action.

“I think we’re doing another good thing for the city of Portland, Oregon…and maybe the entire world,” she said.